Nick Powell

Sports Editor

To mangle Shakespeare, nothing became Sir Chris Hoy like his leaving of the track.

Britain's most successful Olympian of all time snatched a gold medal that seemed destined for Germany with the same refusal to bow to the odds that had characterised his career.

He knew it could be the end. He was 36. It was the final day of his home Olympics, with a nation watching and expecting him to deliver because he always delivered.

But Maximilian Levy seemed sure to defeat him in the Keirin final: the German’s charge was about to sweep him past on the final lap.

"For a split second I thought it was over," said Hoy. "I just drove like I’ve never driven before."

And as he never will again.

Sir Chris has decided his body will not cope with one more push for glory at one more home Games - the Commonwealths in 2014.

Sir Chris during the Olympic parade in Edinburgh last year

The lure of bowing out in a blaze of tartan glory was immense. But as Glasgow nears, so does his fourth decade, and Hoy has realised he cannot trust his body to see off all comers.

Nothing else has ever been good enough, from his early days as a teenage BMX champion inspired by the film ET, through a golden career where he, with Sir Bradley Wiggins and Victoria Pendleton, personified the growth of British cycling from a minority sport to one that was well-funded, expertly-run and consistently successful.

He cared about the concomitant evolution of cycling as a mass pursuit, enthusiastically supporting the series of “Sky Rides” that cleared a city’s streets of traffic to let the bikes take over in safety.

But success like his only comes with single-minded determination that verges on the bloody-minded.

The lack of cash in the early years, the scrapping of his favourite event (the kilo) after he won gold in it in Athens, a career-threatening hip injury in 2009, the selection of his rival Jason Kenny to contest the sprint at the 2012 Olympics – all were overcome.

The London Games were the brightest light at the end of the tunnel of day after day of brutal, crushing training sessions that tested even his resolve.

He bows out with 11 world titles, six Olympic golds and the mantle of being the most successful Olympic cyclist the planet has ever known.